When Tenure Trumps Talent

Yet another article – this one in Forbes – about the madness of layoffs purely by seniority:

School districts nationwide are shedding teaching positions. Confronted with massive budget holes, districts face hundreds--or thousands--of layoffs. Clearly, these cuts will be painful for teachers and students alike. But compounding the pain is the fact that seniority, not competence, will largely determine who stays and who goes.

Last-in-first-out policies virtually guarantee that, come next school year, many talented, motivated teachers will be out of a job and some less talented, less motivated teachers will return to the classroom. Both students and teachers will suffer the ill effects of these choices, long after the economy rebounds and staffing levels return to normal.

These effects can be mitigated, but only if teacher unions and management take immediate steps to remedy the simplistic calculus of seniority-based layoffs.

Last-in-first-out was never good policy, but in the current reform climate it could stifle recent gains. In the last decade, many of America's large urban school systems have made improving teacher quality a centerpiece of reform. The result has been an influx of talented and energetic young teachers into traditionally hard-to-staff schools. Now these teachers are first in line for pink slips.

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When Tenure Trumps Talent
Forbes, Timothy Knowles, 07.23.10, 12:50 PM ET

http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/23/education-layoffs-tenure-teachers-opinions-contributors-timothy-knowles_print.html